Thursday, 30 April 2009

Historical facts about the Druids are few, yet this very lack of tangible evidence has allowed their image to be reworked and appropriated by the English, Irish, Scots and Welsh for over 500 years. Ronald Hutton examines the modern history of an ancient order.

"they prove again their staying power as a part of modernity, simply because of, rather than despite, the paucity and unreliability of the historical references to them. As they are so insubstantial as historical figures they can be pressed into all manner of contexts."

Friday, 24 April 2009

Boleskine Bay, on Loch Ness at Foyers, was part of an estate renowned at the start of the 20th century as "a centre of black magic, evil and sorcery" under the ownership and influence of satanist Aleister Crowley.

The "Beast of Boleskine", who died in 1947, owned Boleskine Estate between 1899 and 1913, during which time he tried to smother the Highlands in black magic by coaxing out the forces of evil.

The estate, once the home of millionaire rock star Jimmy Page, has been linked to a number of incidents over the years, including at least two violent deaths.

As well as black magic rituals to invoke the four princes of evil, Crowley and his devil-worshipping followers used the estate to make talismans and offered animal sacrifices to Satan.

"The demons and evil forces had congregated round me so thickly that they were shutting off the light. It was a comforting situation. There could be no more doubt of the efficiency of the operation," Crowley wrote of his experiments at the estate.

Now, a 1.9-acre plot on the former estate has been put on the market for ??176,000 with planning permission for a three-bedroom log house, and 140ft of the Loch Ness foreshore.

At least this is the official history; a tad more due dilligence will turn up Mr Crowley as an operative for British Intelligence, which may also explain the strange tales told to keep petty snoopers away from his lair.

Sunday, 19 April 2009

"When you go to a LEGO conventiontypically the larger models get most ofthe attention. Not good or bad, just theway it is. I wanted to make somethinglarge to take to shows that used thesmallest amount of parts, so a geodesicdome sounded right.

"I built this for Brickfest DC 06. Thegeodesic dome took about 6 months ofdesign and prototyping in my spare time.I wouldn???t have been able to build itwithout the awesome dome calculator ondesertdomes.com. It was a surrealproject because I learned (a little bit)about how real geodesic domes are madeand then got to figure out how to makeit with LEGO."

Friday, 17 April 2009

BBC News has learned that the appointment is intended to assist MI5 in harnessing developments in science and technology that will help the service combat terrorism and support field officers in counter-intelligence activities.

BBC asked Professor John Beddington, the top scientific adviser in the UK government, if the job involved designing cool gadgets.

"I think it's unlikely that the person will be required to develop a weapons system for the latest Aston Martin," was his reply.

like everyone else, just testing out what could well be the simplest multimedia blog-hosting system yet invented, and if it works, maybe

this is the way to maintain an easy and timely web-logbook. I do like blogger.com but it annoys me with the jumping of hoops to put images into a simple post, the lack of any storage for sound or video. Does Posterous do any better?

Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Humans: "Humans are arguably the most bizarre creatures in the animal kingdom. The proof is in the many gross, unnecessary, contradictory and simply inexplicable things we do. And of course we're different in our capacity to ponder all these oddities and sometimes figure a few out."

Oddles and oodles of links on everything you ever wanted to know (and some that you didn't) on what our best research has found about being a you.

Humans: "Humans are arguably the most bizarre creatures in the animal kingdom. The proof is in the many gross, unnecessary, contradictory and simply inexplicable things we do. And of course we're different in our capacity to ponder all these oddities and sometimes figure a few out."

Oddles and oodles of links on everything you ever wanted to know (and some that you didn't) on what our best research has found about being a you.

Friday, 10 April 2009

How Lincoln Averted Financial Crisis: "legal-tender U.S. Notes or 'Greenbacks' represented receipts for labor and goods delivered to the United States. They were paid to soldiers and suppliers and were trade-able for goods and services of a value equivalent to their service to the community. The Greenbacks aided the Union not only in winning the war but in funding a period of unprecedented economic expansion. Lincoln's government created the greatest industrial giant the world had yet seen"

When I was a little baby, my momma said, "Hey, son. Travel where you will and grow to be a manAnd sing what must be sung, poor boy. Sing what must be sung.

And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, spend it as fast as I can.For a wailin' song and a good guitar, the only things that I understand, poor boy, the only things that I understand.

How Lincoln Averted Financial Crisis: "legal-tender U.S. Notes or 'Greenbacks' represented receipts for labor and goods delivered to the United States. They were paid to soldiers and suppliers and were trade-able for goods and services of a value equivalent to their service to the community. The Greenbacks aided the Union not only in winning the war but in funding a period of unprecedented economic expansion. Lincoln's government created the greatest industrial giant the world had yet seen"

When I was a little baby, my momma said, "Hey, son. Travel where you will and grow to be a manAnd sing what must be sung, poor boy. Sing what must be sung.

And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, spend it as fast as I can.For a wailin' song and a good guitar, the only things that I understand, poor boy, the only things that I understand.

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Mind Hacks points out this mindblowing item in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience: "A Roman chariot, the rider dressed in gold, flashed across the curtain several times. On the ward, tropical vines grew from the foot of her bed. A man stood with thick brown tree trunks for legs and thick green branches for arms. Nurses’ heads would shrink and then expand before melting into the floor. Brightly coloured fairies carrying wands invited her for walks around the hospital grounds."

Charles Bonnet Syndrome sufferers can experience complex colour patterns, images of 'little' people animals, plants or trees and inanimate objects that blend into the person's surroundings.

Given the astounding 17% prevalence of these illusions, I wonder if there may be corresponding phenomenon in other modalities, brushings by of ghosts on the arm, or vivid personal perceptions of phantom time, meter and pitch. While the cause is not yet known and there is no treatment beyond reassurance, the good news is the effect generally fades away after a few years.

the basic official theory explaining the visions associated with visual impairment like macular degeneration is that the brain, on receiving incomplete visual data through the eyes, 'fills in' the missing elements as best it can -- a kind of 'best fit' process. In fact, there is evidence that it is only the input of a constant visual stream through our eyes that prevents the brain making up its own imagery in any case.[ Eye Spirits: Fortean Times UK ]

Mind Hacks points out this mindblowing item in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience: "A Roman chariot, the rider dressed in gold, flashed across the curtain several times. On the ward, tropical vines grew from the foot of her bed. A man stood with thick brown tree trunks for legs and thick green branches for arms. Nurses??? heads would shrink and then expand before melting into the floor. Brightly coloured fairies carrying wands invited her for walks around the hospital grounds."

Charles Bonnet Syndrome sufferers can experience complex colour patterns, images of 'little' people animals, plants or trees and inanimate objects that blend into the person's surroundings.

Given the astounding 17% prevalence of these illusions, I wonder if there may be corresponding phenomenon in other modalities, brushings by of ghosts on the arm, or vivid personal perceptions of phantom time, meter and pitch. While the cause is not yet known and there is no treatment beyond reassurance, the good news is the effect generally fades away after a few years.

the basic official theory explaining the visions associated with visual impairment like macular degeneration is that the brain, on receiving incomplete visual data through the eyes, 'fills in' the missing elements as best it can -- a kind of 'best fit' process. In fact, there is evidence that it is only the input of a constant visual stream through our eyes that prevents the brain making up its own imagery in any case.[ Eye Spirits: Fortean Times UK ]

Friday, 3 April 2009

Maurice Ravel plays his orchestral piece Bolero. From a piano roll in the 1920's. The photograph is also from the 1920s; Ravel is playing the piano along with Éva Gauthier, on the far right is George Gershwin.